Sarah Kaufman: Amy Purdy is a double amputee, and her prosthetic limbs have carried her with deceptive ease through four weeks of competition on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.”
Category: dance
How Do You Start A Dance Craze? Start With The Idiotic
The steps are “simple, idiotic nuggets of movement,” said Ani Taj, the Cartel’s founder and choreographer. “If you want it to be a populist experience, then people have to be able to do it in some way.”
Why Trey McIntyre Went To, And Stayed In, Boise
“When I first came here they said you’ll disappear off the dance map. The opposite was true – we got a lot of attention. It just requires more creativity. … Being surrounded by other artists and companies [in a big city] is more of a challenge than being away.”
Bolshoi Ballet Director Talks About Recovery From Acid Attack
Sergei Filin can now see (just) well enough to judge a competition (which he’s doing this week). Of healing at the troubled Bolshoi, he says, “It’s primarily myself who has to heal, because I bore the main blow myself. … I think it’s those people who were creating this atmosphere for all these months which finally resulted in this terrible attack [who need a remedy]. The theater itself is quite healthy.”
‘A Purer Form Of Interpretation’: Akram Khan On Working With Britain’s National Youth Dance Company
“What I love about working with these dancers is that they have openness without judgment – it’s all new for them. Sometimes knowledge gets in the way so the fact that they have a space to absorb new information, and not too much to refer to from their past, means that it all comes in a purer form of interpretation.” (includes video)
Darcey Bussell’s New Mission: Getting Everyone To Dance
“People have forgotten that dance is meant to be part of their lives. Socially, it gets you out and about; physically it’s exercise without too much strain; and it makes you feel great about your body.”
‘It Sounds Like A Stupid Fairytale’: Jean-Christophe Maillot’s Wishes Come True With Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo
When Princess Caroline invited Maillot to lead Monaco’s ballet company, he says, “I wanted to show the world that this company wasn’t the toy of a princess. I wanted a company that would have its own identity. And I wanted Monaco, so small and so specific, to experience the whole possibility of dance.”
In January Minnesota Dance Theatre’s Entire Board Resigned. Now There’s A New Board
Artistic director Loyce Houlton said that there were “disconnects” between the departed board and the organization. While she would not go into details about what precipitated January’s startling news, she “took responsibility,” as a board member and artistic director.
Progress On Saving Trisha Brown’s Dance Legacy
“The company’s plans — which are being supported by several major foundations — are the latest attempt to deal with questions about the legacy of a major 20th-century choreographer.”
A Critic Revisits the Bolshoi After 30 Years
Alastair Macaulay: “The Russian nation and its capital city have greatly changed; Russia’s dealings with the West – and its presentation of its own history – have been transformed; and the Bolshoi Theater itself has been completely renovated and partly rebuilt … [and] visually, in its auditorium and its public spaces, [it] may well now be the world’s most splendid theater.”